Lance and the Guitar
by Isabeau1
Summary: Music is a universal language, even in space. Ch 2: It's a conspiracy; Keith is sure of it. He's just not exactly sure why there's a conspiracy.
1. Moon River

**Moon River**

* * *

Allura walked by the commons room without looking in, on her way to get in some training before Keith started monopolizing the gladiator for the afternoon, when she heard the odd twang of an out of tune instrument.

She paused, then back tracked to peer into the room. Lance was sitting on the couch by himself, what seemed to be a Terbanian Zinthor on his lap. As far as she could tell, he was working very hard on trying to get it out of tune.

"That's not how that's supposed to sound," she offered.

Lance glanced up at her and smiled a bit lop-sidedly, "I know, but I think I can get it to sound like a guitar if I tune it right."

"An earth instrument?" she guessed, her interest peaked.

"Yeah," Lance picked at one of the strings, then adjusted the tuning peg, "I found it at that massive flea market we were at on the nasty swamp planet…"

"Firterian," Allura supplied the name for him, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and coming farther into the room.

"Right," Lance shrugged, strumming over all the cords together, then making another adjustment, "they all run together after a while, and we're never anywhere long enough for it to really matter."

Allura thought she heard some frustration there, but there wasn't much she could do about it. It was dangerous for them to stay anywhere for too long, not just for them, but for the native peoples. Voltron attracted a lot of attention after all.

"Anyway," Lance continued, "I found this, and it looks like a guitar, and it kind of sounds like one, just really, really out of tune."

Allura almost told him that it had probably sounded like it was supposed to before he had started playing around with it, but decided against it. If taking instruments out of tune kept Lance out of trouble and from annoying people for a while, she wasn't going to stop him.

"I didn't have you figured for a musician," she said instead, taking a seat beside him on the circular couch.

"Music was a big deal with my parents," Lance picked through the strings, and seeming to be satisfied with the sound, began to play a melody, "they thought it was part of a well-rounded education, so we all had to learn piano whether we wanted to or not."

"Piano?" Allura asked curiously.

"It's…" Lance frowned, pausing in his playing, his brow wrinkling as he tried to figure out how to describe it, "it's technically a percussion instrument, but it's kind of a cross between a percussion instrument and a string instrument, and it's usually too big to take anywhere with you. Pidge might have some piano tracks somewhere, although that's not really her thing."

"Hmm, I'll have to ask her," Allura leaned back more comfortably, gesturing to the instrument in Lance's lap, "that's not a piano though."

"No," Lance shrugged and went back to playing, "we all had to learn piano, then we had to pick a second instrument. Guitars aren't that hard to learn the basics of, although it takes a while to get good at them, and they're portable. Plus girls like them."

He smirked up at her, and she rolled her eyes. She was coming to understand that Lance flirted the same way he teased, mostly affectionately, and with very little intent.

"I had to learn a handful of instruments as part of my education," Allura admitted, "I was never particularly skilled at it. I find I enjoy listening to music much more than playing it."

"Yeah, so does Pidge," Lance changed to a slower melody, "she has tons of music stored on her laptop, but she doesn't play anything."

Allura made a mental note to ask Pidge if she could borrow some of her music next time she saw her. There were certain aspects of form and pattern that seemed fairly universal, but music across the universe was remarkably diverse. Or perhaps it was the continuity that made it remarkable. No matter where she went, and regardless of whether she actually liked it or not, music was always identifiable as music. It would be nice to hear what that sounded like on her paladins' home planet.

The song Lance was playing was actually quite pretty, and Allura listened for a while in comfortable silence. Lance seemed more interested in playing then talking, so she didn't interrupt him. Shiro had told her that Lance was actually quite focused in combat situations, but she had to admit, she had trouble imagining Lance being focused or serious about anything.

It was nice to see that he really could focus. It was also nice to see that it didn't take a life and death situation to inspire him to it.

"That's a pretty melody," Allura said after a few minutes, "does it have words."

Lance's lips quirked slightly, and he picked up the song somewhere in the middle, " _off to see the world; there's such a lot of world to see…_ "

Allura had heard Lance sing before. He tended to sing to himself when he was working on Blue Lion or doing chores around the castle. He had a pleasant voice, and he rarely seemed to sing out of tune unless it was on purpose with the intent of bothering someone.

"… _we're after the same rainbow's end,_ " Lance continued, " _waiting round the bend, my huckleberry friend, moon river and me._ "

"It's a lovely song," Allura said sincerely, "thank you for sharing it."

"Oh," Lance's cheeks colored slightly, "you're welcome, I guess. It's from a really, really old movie that my grandma likes. She would sing it to us sometimes as a lullaby. Mom too."

Lance's voice was steady, but his fingers moved restlessly above the strings without touching them. Allura knew he missed his family; all the paladins did.

"I think I may be missing some cultural context," Allura admitted, "what is the significance of the rainbow's end?"

"There's a legend on earth, not that anyone really believes it anymore, that leprechauns…" Lance caught the princess's blank look and clarified, "little trouble causing fairies, hid their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. So the rainbow's end is the place that you find treasure, if you can get there."

"And I imagine the treasure everyone hopes to find there is different," Allura speculated.

"Yeah," Lance started playing a song with a faster tempo.

"What would you want to find at the end of it?" Allura asked.

Lance paused in his playing, the strings vibrating into silence, and an oddly blank look crossed his face.

"Pizza," he said, then started playing again.

For someone who seemed so open and transparent most of the time, there were moments when Lance suddenly wasn't readable at all. She knew that shouldn't surprise her; all people had depths that didn't show, but for some reason, on the rare occasion that she noticed it with Lance, it made her feel as if the knowledge she had of him was really very superficial, and she didn't really know him at all.

Her father had told her once that for all her duties, she was under no obligation to share herself with anyone, but she couldn't really expect anyone to offer themselves to her in friendship or in loyalty if she wasn't willing to do the same.

"Mirtleberry tea," Allura offered.

Just the name was enough to bring back the spicy, floral smell, the memory of her parents at the breakfast table with her. He father put too much nectar in his, her mother never had less than two cups, the way they would laugh over her sleep frizzled hair, and the extra spoon of nectar her father would slip into her cup when her mother wasn't looking.

"Yeah," Lance gave her a half smile.

And she knew he understood. It would seem that for all their differences, their rainbows ended in the place after all, and there was something comforting in that.

* * *

Notes: The best version of **Moon River** is the original sung by Audrey Hepburn in _Breakfast at Tiffany's_. Lance does a pretty good version of it, if he does say so himself (although not as good as his mom or grandma).


	2. Haven't You Noticed

**Haven't You Noticed**

* * *

 **A/N:** No spoilers for season two, since I wrote this before it came out.

* * *

Keith frowned, trying to decide if Shiro had just secretly put him in check mate or not. He might be able to delay the inevitable a few more turns if he made the right move now.

Hunk had made the chess board and pieces. Apparently, he and Lance like to play. They had tried to teach Pidge, but she didn't have the patience for it. Keith wasn't sure he did either, but Shiro had said it would be good for him to learn.

He was really terrible at it, but at least it was fun to play with Shiro.

Although, he would have rather been terrible at it in private. Instead, Shiro insisted they play in the commons room. He said the board was Hunk's, and they couldn't just take it. Keith didn't think Hunk would even have noticed as long as they brought it back.

He certainly didn't seem to notice they were playing now. He and Pidge had some kind of project spread across the half of the coffee table that didn't have the chess board on it (and half the circular couch too).

Lance wasn't paying any attention either, thankfully. Last time Lance had played Shiro, he had beaten him 2 out of 3, and while he had yet to comment on Keith's playing, Keith figured it was just a matter of time before he started teasing him about how bad he was at it.

His guitar currently had his full attention though. Or whatever it was; it sounded like a guitar, at least. He seemed to know what he was doing with it, and whatever he was playing, it was mellow enough to not be annoying.

"Do Saddie's song," Hunk demanded suddenly, looking over at Lance with a grin on his face.

"Seriously?" Lance raised an eyebrow at him, continuing to play.

"Which one is…?"Pidge's nose wrinkled in thought, then she brightened suddenly, "ohhh… do it!

"You guys are crazy," Lance shook his head and went back to focusing on his playing.

"Do it! Do it!" Pidge and Hunk chanted together.

Keith looked at Shiro for an explanation. His taste in music was vastly different from the rest of teams', at least as far as he could tell it was, and he had no idea what song they were talking about. Shiro shrugged, not knowing either.

"Fine," Lance gave in with a grin, picking up the tempo of his playing to something that sounded distinctly pop-ish.

"Yes!" Pidge cheered.

" _I can't help it if I make a scene,_ " Lance sang, " _stepping out of my hot pink limousine…_ "

Keith decided this was going to be a stupid song and focused back on the chess game. Lance had no shortage of stupid songs, and Keith wasn't sure having an alien guitar to accompany him was an improvement.

Keith moved his rook and could tell from the slight up-turn of Shiro's smile that he was definitely going to lose.

Pidge suddenly joined in singing, and Keith glanced up at her. She whistled sometimes when she was working, but he had never heard her sing before.

" _I've got them dazzled like a stage magician,_ " Pidge was not quite in tune, but Lance matched her anyway, _"when I point they look and when I talk they listen…_ "

Keith gave Shiro an imploring look. This song was stupid, and he didn't understand why the others were so excited about it.

"It's from a really old cartoon," Shiro supplied, apparently having recognized it now that he had heard it.

Pidge dropped out of the song, and Lance kept singing, foot tapping against the edge of the coffee table in time to his playing.

" _Everybody needs a friend, and I've got you and you and you,"_ Lance looked up at Keith, clearly amused by the annoyed look on his face, " _so many I can't even name them. Can you blame me? I'm too famous…_ "

Keith scoffed slightly as he watched Shiro take his queen. Lance only wished he was that famous.

Lance reached the chorus, and Keith looked back up when Hunk joined in. He had never heard Hunk sing, and he had a really nice voice.

" _Haven't you noticed I'm a star,_ " their voices blended together well, and Lance dropped out to let Hunk sing the next line, " _I'm coming into view as the world is turning."_

" _Haven't you noticed I've made it this far,_ " Pidge jumped in again to sing with them, " _now everyone can see me burning…_ "

They had obviously done this before. Keith had a vague memory of walking past the student lounge at the Garrison and seeing Lance sitting on a couch playing his guitar, Hunk beside him doing homework. He had actually known who Lance was back then; he was too loud not to notice. He just hadn't cared. He had been just one more face in a sea of faces, none of them more important than graduating so he could get into space with Shiro.

Now, he felt like he was always on the outside with the three of them, and there was no way to get in. Lance and Hunk had been friends well before they were accepted into the Garrison, and Pidge, for all her prickliness then and now, seemed to have been sucked into their circle by sheer force of will on Lance and Hunk's part.

They were easy together, light, and Keith had never been that way with anyone. He had had people he cared about, and a few people who cared about him, but it had never been light the way they were; it had never been easy. Caring about someone felt heavy in his chest and like a weight on his shoulders.

It didn't feel anything like singing stupid pop songs together for no reason at all, but sometimes he wished it could.

They started the song over again, Pidge and Hunk jumping in more often this time, and Keith almost threw a pillow at them.

"Checkmate," Shiro took his knight, trapping his king with no escape.

Yeah, Keith sighed, that was how he had expected it to end.

* * *

Keith did a lot of menial chores around the castle. Coran was only one person after all, and there was a lot of castle to take care. It wasn't fair to expect Coran to do all of by himself, but Keith always seemed to get stuck with the boring jobs.

To be fair, Shiro and Lance ended up with menial chores too. The three of them just didn't have the right aptitude to help with the more technical maintenance jobs like Hunk and Pidge could. It meant they did a lot of cleaning.

Which is how Keith found himself mopping the mess hall floor.

Keith suspected if Pidge had actually had to clean anything, there would be a horde of robots roaming the halls of the castle by now to do it for them.

It wasn't so bad though. They scattered all over the castle when they were doing chores, so it was usually quiet, and Keith liked the quiet. The repetitive motion was kind of comforting too. It wasn't all that different from practicing weapons forms or some of the calisthenics and strength training exercises he did.

He started humming to himself absently as he worked. Coran had asked him to mop the kitchen too. They were both large spaces, built to accommodate a crew that was big enough to not only service a castle, but five giant robot lions too. It shouldn't take him too long to mop all of it though. Forty minutes, maybe half an hour if he hurried.

He suddenly realized he was humming the stupid song Lance, Pidge, and Hunk had been singing yesterday. He stopped immediately and glared at the mop like it had insulted him.

What was it with them anyway? How could they find so much enjoyment in something so stupid? It was a song about pink limousines or being famous… or magicians?

Keith couldn't actually remember the lyrics, just that it had been really, really annoying, and they must have sung it like a dozen times.

Although Hunk could seriously sing. That was kind of a revelation. He could have picked a better song though.

Lance had probably kept going with it because he knew it was annoying Keith. Why did he think it was so much fun to bother Keith? What had he ever done to him?

Keith was humming again, and it was the same stupid song.

"Damn it," he slammed the mop down into the bucket, sloshing water over the side, then rung it out with much more force then necessary, "stupid song."

He went back to mopping and didn't notice Pidge dart away from the door, an evil glint in her eyes.

* * *

"Why do you need my help again?" Keith asked, trying not to sound whinny, "couldn't someone else have helped with this?"

It wasn't that Keith minded helping, but Pidge was just trying to get the dishwasher running again. It didn't seem like something she would need help with, and if she did need help with it, Keith couldn't imagine he was the best choice.

He wasn't a complete loss when it came to mechanical things, but it certainly wasn't something he was particularly skilled at, and honestly, he found it boring.

"Everyone else is busy," Pidge shrugged, ripping out wiring with what seemed a reckless abandon to Keith.

Keith supposed that wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. Hunk's skills, much like Pidge's, were in high demand, and the last time Keith had seen Shiro and Allura, they had been in the control room studying maps. Coran was never not busy.

"Take these," Pidge handed him a fistful of tangled wires, "untangle them, would you?"

"Yeah sure," Keith started picking apart the clump, wondering why a dish washer would even have so many wires.

Who knew where Lance was. Probably hiding from responsibilities again, or he could be in Blue Lion's hanger. He spent a lot of time there, even when there wasn't anything there to do.

Keith wasn't much of a talker, and Pidge was engrossed in her work, so they sat on the floor of the kitchen in companionable silence for a while, Keith picking apart wires, and Pidge indiscriminately ripping bits and pieces out of the dishwasher. Occasionally, she would ask for a tool, and Keith would hand it to her.

Then she started whistling.

At first Keith didn't think much of it. Pidge did that sometimes while she worked. Then he realized what song she was whistling. It was that stupid song Lance had been singing a few days ago. _Maddie's Song_ or _Sally's Song_ , or something like that.

"Are you actually going to use these again?" Keith interrupted, hoping to stop her before the song got stuck in his head again.

"Probably," Pidge shrugged, "I hate throwing things away when our resources are so limited. It's not like we can run to the nearest store and get more."

"I guess," Keith went back to untangling them.

Pidge went back to whistling the same song.

"What's wrong with it anyway?" Keith interrupted her again.

"I don't know yet," Pidge sounded unconcerned about it, "this is ridiculously complicated for a dishwasher, but then again, it cleans and sanitizes dishes with no water, so who knows?"

"You're tearing it apart without knowing how it works?" Keith gave her a wary look, not eager to add washing dishes to his list of chores because Pidge had disassembled their dishwasher and couldn't get it back together.

"By the time I'm done tearing it apart, I'll know how it works," Pidge said confidently.

Keith sighed and went back to his given task. Pidge went back to whistling the same song.

Keith's eyes narrowed. She couldn't possibly be doing it on purpose, could she?

He glared at the back of her head for a moment, then shook himself. She must just like the song, that was all. He didn't get it, but Shiro had always said there was no accounting for taste.

* * *

Keith really liked running, but there was limited space to do that in the castle. He did sometimes run sprints across Red's hanger because he liked being there with her, or he would jog aimlessly through the lower levels of the castle that didn't get used much, but the most efficient way was on the treadmill.

'Alien treadmill' Lance had insisted, although Keith didn't see that it mattered.

Not that that helped at all with how boring it was to run on it. Had he been able to find any music he liked on the ship, he would have hit Pidge or Hunk up to make him a set of headphones and a player, but so far he hadn't really found anything worth listening to.

So he just had to suck it up and be bored. It was important they stay in good condition and keep their endurance up, and running was the easiest way to do that.

Keith had been running at an even jog for almost twenty minutes when he realized he was humming.

And of course it was that stupid song again.

Keith speed up the treadmill, hoping if he went faster he wouldn't have the breath for the song to stay stuck in his head, but it was too late. It was already there.

This was all Pidge's fault. She had been whistling the tune the entire time she had worked on the dishwasher. It didn't matter that she hadn't done it on purpose. Now it was stuck there again.

With a grunt of irritation, Keith turned off the treadmill and went to take his frustration out on the punching bag.

* * *

Pidge swore she was going to finish putting the dishwasher back together, but Keith thought she might have lost interest in the project. He might be stuck doing dishes for a while. At least Lance had to help too.

"I bet if we ransomed her laptop, we could get her to fix it," Lance said cheerfully, scrapping food goo off a plate with a spoon and putting it up on the shelf above the sink for the mice to snack on.

The mice squeaked happily and dug in.

"Be sure to tell someone what you want on your tombstone before you do that," Keith said dryly.

They had played rock, paper, scissors for who washed and who dried. Lance had lost, but he seemed fairly indifferent to which he was doing, which took the fun out of picking one. Keith picked drying, because it seems like Lance would have to do more work that way, but he was taking his time with washing. It might have been faster if Keith had picked that instead, although knowing Lance he would have gotten distracted so long the dishes would have dried on their own.

"Braver than you," Lance replied without missing a beat.

"Deader than me," Keith countered, unimpressed.

Lance snorted and got back to actually washing. He was pretty quick at it when he was focused, and he and Keith eventually fell into an easy pace with washing and drying. The more time they spent piloting Voltron, the more Keith found that they all seemed to naturally sync up when they were doing tasks together, at least if they didn't get in each other's way or think about it too much.

It was kind of weird, and Keith wasn't always sure how he felt about it. It didn't seem like anyone else had noticed, so Keith hadn't said anything about it.

"… _when I pose they scream and when I joke they laugh…_ "

Keith narrowed his eyes and glared. Lance was apparently singing to the mice, and they were dancing and squeaking along happily.

That was all well and good; the mice were kind of cute and pretty friendly, sometimes they were even helpful, but Keith didn't think for a minute that Lance's choice of song was a coincidence. Any time Lance did something annoying, Keith assumed it was on purpose.

"Stop singing that song," Keith snapped.

Lance raised an eyebrow at him, handing him a dripping dish, "not a music lover I take it."

"I like music just fine," Keith scowled, "that's the problem."

"I think he just insulted our taste in music," Lance told the mice.

The mice looked properly indignant, little noses stuck in the air and arms crossed.

"See, you made them sad," Lance grinned at Keith.

"They don't look sad," Keith snapped.

The mice proceeded to burst into tears.

"Keep it up, and you can do dishes by yourself," Keith threatened.

"You would abandon your teammate in the middle of battle?" Lance said dramatically.

Keith sighed and snatched the next plate from his hands, where it was clean, but dripping.

"Will you just shut up and wash," he demanded.

"You take everything so seriously," Lance snickered.

"Well, someone has to," Keith grumbled.

"Better you then me," Lance quipped, scrapping up some more left overs to give to the mice, "some things just aren't worth the energy to take seriously."

That was a different way of thinking about, Keith supposed, although he would have said not all things deserved equal attention. It was still important to do a good job on them.

Lance handed him another dish, and Keith dried it. He wondered if there was a way to get Pidge to finish fixing the dishwasher that wouldn't result in homicide. Lance's plan seemed risky. Maybe Hunk could…

Lance was whistling this time instead of singing, and the mice had gone back to dancing.

"Stop that!" Keith jostled him with his shoulder, but Lance only laughed.

It was too late though. The song was back in Keith's head again. He hoped Lance did try to steal Pidge's laptop. He would help her hide the body.

* * *

"Hand me the wire strippers, would you?" Hunk gestured vaguely in the direction of the tool box, his top half buried in Red.

Keith handed him the tool. He had noticed a short in one of Red's servos on their last training run. It had popped up on his diagnostics as a minor service issue, but Keith had been able to feel it even before that. It had grating across his consciousness, like someone repeatedly tugging on a strand of his hair. Red has assured him that it was a short in a non-essential system, and yes, it really was that annoying to her as well.

Pidge was busy finally putting the dishwasher back together after being forced to do dishes by Shiro, so Keith had gone to Hunk instead. He really wanted the problem taken care of before the next time he flew. It wasn't so annoying that it would be distracting, but it was really annoying.

"The other wire cutters, the bigger ones," Hunk pointed without looking.

Keith swapped the tools out for him.

"Thanks," Hunk's hand disappeared back into the opening in Red's side.

There was the sound of something sparking, and Hunk gave a surprised yep, followed by the sound of metal hitting metal.

"You okay?" Keith asked, moving closer.

"Yeah, yeah," Hunk pulled his head out, a smear of grease across his cheek, "there's some wiring that needs to be replaced, but shouldn't take too long."

Keith handed him a rag to clean up with, glancing pointedly at his now empty hands.

"And I dropped the wire cutters," Hunk admitted under his breath, "but I'll fish it out, no problem."

"Can I see?" Keith asked.

"The wire cutters?" Hunk gave him a confused look.

"No, where the short is," Keith laughed a little.

"Oh yeah, totally," Hunk stepped back so Keith could get closer look.

Keith wasn't really interested in things like this, but he had had trouble with repairs while they were separated after the wormhole, so he figured he should at least try to learn as much as he could about how the lions work.

It wasn't exactly enthralling, but at least Hunk was patient with his questions.

"You can see it there, where the wires look kind of melted," Hunk leaned over his shoulder to point, "they look like they just wore out, then sparked and fused. It wouldn't have been a big deal in a battle, but it's only going to get worse if they're not replaced."

Keith could see what Hunk was pointing to, and he could sort of follow where the wires were connected. He thought, if he had had to, he could have figured out how to replace them. He felt a lot better having someone who actually knew what they were doing fix it though.

"I see it," Keith confirmed.

He also spotted the wire cutter. It had fallen to the bottom of the compartment, with plenty of wires and cables between them and it. It was going to be a pain to fish out. Keith leaned over the edge of the opening and reached down for it. His arms were thinner then Hunks; he might have an easier time reaching down into the narrow opening.

He couldn't quite reach it, and he came up on his toes to gain a little more reach.

"Just don't fall in," Hunk grabbed Keith by the belt, "face planting on a power coupling would probably hurt. If you can't reach it, I'll get it later."

"I can reach," Keith insisted, leaning down even farther, his feet just barely touching the ground.

He trusted Hunk not to drop him, and him just grabbing it seemed like the simplest solution.

Keith managed to get his fingers on the wire cutter and grab it, and Hunk gave his belt a tug, pulling him back enough to get his feet on the ground. He straightened and handed the tool over to Hunk.

"Thanks," Hunk set it back in the box, "you're almost as stubborn as Pidge, you know?"

Keith shrugged, deciding to take that as a complement.

"You want to help me fix it?" Hunk asked, pulling various tools out of his box and setting them in easy reach.

"Yeah," Keith nodded.

When Keith helped Pidge with projects like this, it was mostly just handing her tools, but Hunk always took the time to explain what he was doing. It probably took him longer then it would have without Keith there, but Keith always knew more by the time they were finished.

Hunk was up to his elbows in wiring, trying to get a stuck connector loose, when Keith realized he was singing to himself. Hunk had such a nice voice, that at first Keith was just content to listen to him. Then he realized what song he was singing.

Keith felt like banging his head against Red, and her amusement rippled through him, more teasing then soothing.

It was totally possible that there was some kind of conspiracy going on, and Hunk was in on it, but Keith really liked listening to Hunk's voice, and really, the damage was already done. The song was already playing again in the back of Keith's head.

So, Keith didn't say anything, just handed Hunk the tools he asked for and nodded when he would pause in his singing to point things out to Keith.

Keith had learned pretty quickly that yelling at Hunk was considerably less satisfying then yelling and Lance and Pidge. Hunk apologized too quickly, and it always left Keith feeling like he had kicked a puppy, even if Hunk had done something worth yelling at him for.

Like now, when he had decided to sing the one song Keith didn't want to hear.

"Come do this part," Hunk waved him over, "it's kind of weird, and you'll remember it better if you do it yourself."

Keith took the tool Hunk offered him, and tried to ignore Hunk humming while he worked at getting a cable locked back into place.

There was no way this was a coincidence, but at least Hunk's voice was nice to listen to.

* * *

"They're doing it on purpose," Keith knew he sounded like he was whining, but he didn't care.

Shiro was less sympathetic than he would have hoped, not even trying to hide his laughter.

"It's not funny," Keith huffed, "that stupid song has been stuck in my head for weeks, and every time it's finally gone, one of them starts singing it again."

Shiro grinned at him.

"Make them stop!" Keith snatched up a pillow from the couch and wacked Shiro's stupid grinning face with it, which only made him laugh again.

Keith glared, and Shiro grabbed his wrist, pulling him down on the couch next to him.

"Relax Keith," Shiro dropped an arm over his shoulders, "it's just a song."

"But it's so annoying," Keith groaned, "why do they always bother me? Why can't they pick on each other."

"They do pick on each other," Shiro rolled his eyes, "yesterday Pidge chased Lance all the way up Green Lion's leg with her bayard, and I had to save him."

"He probably deserved it," Keith grumbled.

"He usually does," Shiro agreed, "this morning Hunk put that spicy powder he found in the storage room into Pidge's coffee."

"That was Hunk?" Keith blinked.

"Yep," Shiro nodded, "really, they need to stop bothering Pidge. Eventually, she's going to kill them, and I won't be able to find their bodies."

"So you're saying it's not just me," Keith folded his arms over his chest, still pouting.

"No, it's not just you," Shiro ruffled his hair, "they're just playing."

"Well, I wish they'd play something different," Keith slumped against him, finally relaxing a little.

"You could always try teasing back," Shiro suggested mildly, "I think you might actually stun Lance into silence if you did. At least for a minute or two."

Keith leaned quietly into Shiro, turning over the idea in his head, that they were playing, that he could play too.

"You know, you're in charge," Keith pointed out eventually, "you could just ban the song."

"I'm not banning a song just because you don't like it," Shiro snickered, "if I'm going to abuse my power, it's going to be for something more fun than that."

"Like what?" Keith raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well…"

Before Shiro could answer, the alarms started to blare.

"Time to get to work kiddo," Shiro clapped Keith on the shoulder and pushed off the couch.

"At least there won't be any singing," Keith grumbled as he hurried after him.

* * *

"Breathe Lance," Keith ordered, hands firm on Lance's shoulders.

Lance gasped, unable to comply, his eyes wide, and dilated with pain and the beginning edges of panic.

They had been ambushed while scouting what was supposed to be an abandoned village, and it had turned out the Galra weren't the only ones creeping through the ruins. Some of the native inhabitants had crept back to try to salvage what they could of their home. Lance had turned to pick off a soldier trying to grab a pair of children scrambling for cover and taken a heavy blow to the chest for his troubles.

Keith hadn't seen him get hit, and he should have. He should have been paying more attention. Then maybe this wouldn't be happening, but he hadn't seen until Lance hit the wall of a crumbling house hard and slid down it, slumping on the ground with a dazed look on his face.

"You're going to be fine," Keith told him firmly, "Shiro is on his way. All you need to do is breathe."

Lance tried, but he couldn't seem to get any air. Keith hadn't seen what he had been hit with, but it had cracked his chest plate, and Keith couldn't let himself think about what a blow that hard had done to his chest. Lance was already on the verge of panic. If they both panicked, Lance was done for.

"You can do it," Keith insisted, bracing Lance as he started to slump, "just take it nice and easy, just breathe."

Keith had finished off the last of their ambushers and dragged Lance to cover inside a crumbling hut. It wasn't much cover, but at least they weren't out in the open anymore. Shiro was ten minutes out in Black Lion and on his way. It would take them barely five to reach the castle in orbit once they got Lance loaded. Coran already had the healing pod prepped. Twenty minutes. He just had to keep Lance breathing for twenty minutes.

That seemed like an eternity.

"Lance," Keith pulled Lance's helmet off, tapping his cheek when his eyes started to flutter closed, "look at me."

Lance focused on him with effort.

"Good," Keith absently wiped at the blood dripping from Lance's nose, "I know it hurts, but you have to calm down and breathe."

Lance shook his head almost frantically, unable to get enough air to talk. He couldn't breath and it hurt. The shallow gasping breathes he was able to manage were beginning to hitch with panic. Keith had to find a way to calm him down, or he was going to pass out.

"It's going to be okay," Keith dropped his hands from his shoulders to rub up and down his arms, "Shiro is going to be here any minute now. Just keep trying."

Shiro confirmed his ETA at seven minutes over the comm. Keith remembered to breathe himself. Shiro would be here soon, and they would both be okay.

Lance nodded, tipping his head forward to rest on Keith's shoulder, his breath still hitching, but he was trying. Keith kept rubbing his arms, wary of rubbing his back in case hitting the wall had injured it. He listened to the chatter over the comm. Hunk and Pidge were making fast work of the forces they had encountered on the other side of the planet. They wanted to get to them too.

Keith realized he was humming almost nervously, and of course it was the same stupid song. He stopped, focusing his attention back on Lance. Lance's breath caught roughly, and he brought a shaking hand up to grip at Keith's sleeve.

Keith frowned. Hadn't he been breathing better a minute ago? He wasn't sure what to do if Lance got any worse. Maybe Lance just needed something to focus on, like…

Keith wrinkled his nose, but it was worth a try.

" _Haven't you noticed I'm a star,_ " Keith sung tentatively, hoping his voice was steady enough to not sound frightened, " _I'm coming into view as the world is turning,_ "

Lance's breathing slowed slightly, the hitching easing.

" _Haven't you noticed I've made it this far,_ " Keith actually didn't know the words to the rest of the song, just the chorus, " _now everyone can see me burning._ "

Some of the tension dropped from Lance's shoulders, and his grip loosened a fraction on Keith's arm. Without any of the verses, Keith found himself just repeating the chorus, but it seemed to help, and Lance's breathing steadied slightly.

Keith heard Black Lion touch down outside, and it was like a huge weight dropping from his shoulders.

"We're going to be fine," Keith murmured to Lance, finally believing it, "everything is going to be okay."

* * *

Keith dropped bonelessly onto the steps beside the healing pod, letting his helmet fall to the ground next to his feet. Hunk and Pidge had just docked safely after picking up Blue Lion and Red from where they had left them on the planet's surface in their rush to get Lance up to the castle. Lance was stable, and Coran insisted he was going to be fine.

"You doing okay, buddy?" Shiro lowered himself to the step next to Keith, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," Keith leaned into his side, and Shiro was quick to wrap his arm around him, "this time really sucked though."

"I know," Shiro guided Keith's head to his shoulder, resting his cheek against his hair, "but you did really good."

"Lance is an idiot," Keith grumbled half-heartedly.

Shiro laughed softly, tightening his arm around Keith's shoulders, "but he's our idiot."

"Lucky us," Keith muttered, not entirely without sincerity.

Shiro smiled into his hair, and Keith slumped into him more heavily, letting his eyes drift closed. Shiro smoothed down his messy hair, humming softly. It was the same song, and Keith supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. The team would have been able to hear him singing over the comm. Keith felt too rung out to be embarrassed.

Anyway, the song was starting to grow on him.

* * *

Lance was by himself in the commons room, and that was okay sometimes. The almost-guitar sounded better in here than in his bedroom, where the sound proofing between the rooms made the notes sound almost flat, and it was easier to try to pick through the chords of songs he didn't quite remember when there was no one there.

It was nice to be doing something that felt familiar when everything that surrounded him felt so foreign.

Lance had been playing for almost five minutes when he realized he was playing _Haven't You Noticed_. Again.

He huffed and started playing his dad's favorite flamenco piece instead. _Haven't You Noticed_ had been stuck in his head since he had stumbled out of the healing pod three days ago, and he had no idea why. No matter what he did, he couldn't get it to stop playing in the background of his thoughts.

It almost made him feel bad about getting it stuck in Keith's head over and over again. Almost.

As if summoned by the thought of him, Keith wandered into the commons room, data pad in hand. He gave Lance a nod and flopped down on the couch a cushion over from him, putting his feet up on the coffee table and flicking on the pad to read.

Lance let him read in peace, content to focus on his guitar. If it had bothered Keith to have music going while he was reading, then he would have gone somewhere else to do it.

Actually, it was a little weird that Keith was here. He did come to hang out with them sometimes, but he seemed to have a pretty small quota when it came to socializing, and he had wandered in to help with washing mud out of Yellow Lion's joints earlier that day. The water fight had not been Lance's idea. Well, it had been a little bit Lance's idea, but Pidge had started it.

In any case, Keith had pretty much exhausted his usual social time allotment teaming up with Pidge in a futile effort to beat Lance and Hunk. They were armatures. You didn't side against island boys in a water fight unless you wanted to lose.

Lance hadn't expected to see him for the rest of the day though after they finally finished the original task they had been set to. Keith valued his alone time.

But there he was.

One of life's great mysteries, Lance mused, the habits and behaviors of Keith Kogane.

...and he was playing _Haven't You Noticed_ again.

Lance was about to switch to another song, because really the man has saved his life three days ago, and he deserved a break, no matter how funny it was to watch him get angry, when he realized Keith was quietly singing along.

" _Haven't you notice I'm a star,_ " Keith's eyes were on his data pad, and he didn't seem to realize he was singing.

He had a pretty good voice. Not as good as Hunk's, but almost no one did.

" _I'm coming into view as the world is turning,_ " Lance joined in softly, hoping not to startle Keith into stopping.

" _Haven't you noticed I've made it this far,_ " Keith was almost to the end of the line before he realized Lance was singing along with him and glanced up at him warily.

Lance gave what he hoped was an encouraging smile and kept playing.

Keith looked back down at his data pad stubbornly, but he didn't stop singing.

" _Now everyone can see me burning,_ " they finished the song together, " _now everyone can see me burning._ "

Keith continued reading, and Lance moved onto a different song, but the space between them felt easy and light.

Keith decided it wasn't such a bad song after all.

* * *

Notes: _Haven't You Noticed_ is from Steven Universe. I loved the idea of Lance, Hunk, and Pidge being goofballs and singing it together.


End file.
